Dan
"An action hero and everyman, Dan finds it hard to live outside of his limited repertoire of kicking, punching and jumping." '- Dan’s Official Game Bio' Dan is the titular protagonist of the series, and is directed by the Player to win the game. Within the game, the Player is tasked with completing each stage while controlling Dan - his selectable pre-established character within the game’s world - as a proxy to win. Unlike traditional action platformers, the objective is unknown for each stage, but oftentimes involves non-violent means to accomplish it. Dan also has a finite amount of lives, and must obtain more in-game to replenish them. If he loses them all he can regain a new set by using a “Continue,” but it’s unknown if there is a penalty for doing so. Since the story is driven around Dan’s actions, everything the Player commands Dan to do has repercussions on the storyline. He can change the outcome of the story, but only upon death, and resets back to the last saved checkpoint; he oftentimes does in order to advance the game (albeit with humourous disaster on the failed attempts). Unfortunately, the Player’s tendency to treat Dan’s life as if he were in a video game - acting without fear of consequences - leads many of the NPCs in the game world to perceive him as a sociopath on occasion. Notably, Dan has a will of his own, being a pre-established character within the game world - unlike Ana’s customized avatar. While he does obey the Player’s demands, Dan can act of his own volition if given the opportunity, similar to how video games have cutscenes and QTEs (Quick Time Events). Or in other words, there are periods of times where a character(s) acts on their own with minimal player interference, and he has shown signs of this throughout the web series - albeit he also portrayed himself as reckless and impulsive, similar to the Player. Appearance Dan wears a karate outfit that bears a gray top, teal belt, and purple pants. True to Dan’s martial arts stereotypes, he doesn't wear any form of footwear. His orange hair also sticks out as unusual compared to the rest of the characters in-game, and completes his set with a lime green headband which has the letter "D" printed on the front to hold back his hair. Later in Stage Five, Dan utilized golden armor when fighting the Dragon, but in an unfortunate setback the majority of his equipment and clothing were destroyed - the exception being his helmet and underwear. However, he switched back to his normal clothing in future stages. In the Web Series Dan is seen in every stage; he completed them using unique solutions, though in later stages they tended to resolve themselves through help with NPCs like Josie. Over the course of several stages he developed less violent behavior, all in order to build relationships with others as he learned his actions have consequences, and many people he befriended would prove crucial to help solve many of his problems. Stage One In Stage One, Dan began the game near his Treehouse Home, and left it in order to defeat several Ninja Rebels of The Resistance as he advanced. At the end of the stage, he discovered a Princess was held captive in a tower, but was then assaulted by a giant robot who acted as its guardian. Having defeated the mechanized menace, Dan was rewarded with a key; this allowed him to free the Princess, who was excited to be saved by a hero. She kissed him, and became his first love interest as a result. The Princess, however, demanded Dan to use all of his coins to make purchases for her own leisure; this bankrupted his funds at several points. Several of the purchases included a luxury car; television; and several other objects, along with renovating Dan’s Treehouse Home into a high class residence. Finally, he purchased a pink unidentified pet which loved the Princess, but hated Dan. In order to afford all these items, Dan started to work for the Shop Keeper that Dan purchased his new possessions from - and even that wasn’t enough to afford everything - thus the Shop Keeper introduced Dan to a credit card. He also attempted to complete the stage by trying to move past the castle, but the game prevented him from doing so, having not met the hidden objective’s requirement. After Dan entered financial debt - due to multiple uses of his credit card and a consider amount of time having passed - two men came and repossessed all their merchandise. Angry, the Princess dumped Dan, unaware her greed led to their ruin in the first place, and ran away with the Shop Keeper; Dan took off in hot pursuit. After the helicopter which the Princess and shopkeeper tried to escape with crashed, taking Dan along with them to his death, the stage restarted. The same events from the original beginning followed, but this time Dan knew the Princess was too greedy and self-centered to be worth taking care of. He gave the key to the small tower, which housed the Princess, to the shopkeeper; this ended up being the hidden objective, and thus completed the stage. Stage Two In Stage Two, Dan noticed several peasants whom ran away in terror; he discovered that a giant robot was destroying the Inn, and had ruined part of its chimney. However, one of the inhabitants - a brave woman named Josie - fought back by throwing rocks at the robot while yelling at it, hoping to scare it off. Dan tried to help, but to no avail; the robot began (literally) curb stomping him. Josie, inspired by Dan’s heroism, decided to help him. She armed herself with a bolt action rifle - taken from the Inn - and opened fired on the rampaging robot; this got its attention towards her, giving Dan the opportunity to search for a weapon. After he acquired a Modern Rifle, which he found in a crate nearby, he unleashed a storm of lead at the robot; it struggled to halt the onslaught. In the end, the robot was no match for the duo’s overwhelming firepower, and was defeated. Dan and Josie, having bonded over fighting the robot together, fell in love; this triggered a bonus stage which was love themed as well as based on parkour, and the duo relished their experience together. But to their misfortune, it ended out of the blue, leaving them isolated on an island in the sky. Josie asked Dan what to do, but since the Player hadn’t learned the ability for communicating yet, he remained silent. Without warning, several Ninja Rebels of the Resistance - flying on jet packs while armed with AK Rifles - unleashed a barrage of bullets on Dan; this knocked him off the island in the sky. However, Josie rescued him, having stolen a jet pack from one of the Ninja Rebels. After Dan nicked a rifle off another Ninja Rebel, he opened fire on the remaining assailants. During the fight, he leveled up, and learned “Communication” as an ability whilst the battle ensued. The duo’s misfortune struck again; one of the Ninja Rebels destroyed Josie's jetpack with a rocket, and they plummeted towards a pool of lava. Josie confessed to Dan she loved him while they embraced each other, but he struggled to respond while the Player fumbled through the communication icons. Humorously, the Player paused the game for a brief moment to fart, and afterwards managed to find the correct communication icons; this allowed Dan to reciprocate his own feelings towards her. The duo, having admitted their love for each other, ended up completing the hidden objective of the stage. Similar to the bonus stage earlier, the pool of lava morphed into a pool of hearts; this broke their fall, and saved their lives. Stage Three In Stage Three, Dan '''and Josie went back to the Inn to have a drink at the latter’s request. But along the way, they encountered several corpses; they were the Ninja Rebels of the Resistance whom were gunned down in the previous stage. Josie was horrified, but '''Dan jumped over them without a care in the world (a sign of the Player’s influence). Later, Dan partied with many Villagers at the Inn, but Josie was too traumatized from the sight of the Ninja Rebels’s corpses to partake in the celebration. However, Dan was later involved in a confrontation with the Drunk Man; the latter went so far as to punch Dan, who responded with hard knocks of his own against his inebriated assailant. Unfortunately, due to the mechanics of the game world, the Drunk Man was incapacitated. But when paramedics arrived to save him, the Player started to amuse himself by ordering Dan to beat up one of the paramedics for sadistic fun; the Villagers and Josie panicked as a result. The Police later arrived; Dan was apprehended for the death of the Drunk Man as well as assaulting paramedics without a proper justification. He tried to escape, but was recaptured via being electrocuted by tasers, and taken to court. During his trial, he beat up the prosecutor, and was sentenced to death. Finally, he was executed on an electric chair while Josie looked away, unable to bear the sight, and lost one of his lives. On his next life, Dan repeated the entire process all over again with his fate the same outcome as before. Then, on his final life, he decided to run away after killing the Drunk Man, and evaded the Police after he caused a consider amount of mayhem and destruction - and even destroyed a helicopter which caused the death of several members of the Police. In order to escape, Dan fell down a waterfall, which led him to the Dojo of The Light Master. Dan managed to pick up an extra life at the shores of the Dojo. At that point, the Light Master - who noticed Dan '''- beckoned him to enter the Dojo. However, the sadistic Player ordered '''Dan to assault The Light Master, but Dan was subdued with little effort. Humbled by the experience, the Player ordered Dan to enter the Dojo. It was there that Dan - along with the Player - witnessed a flashback; it revealed the Drunk Man’s tragic childhood, in which he was abused by his father, and lost both his parents in a violent confrontation started by his father. Unfortunately, while Dan and the Player became enlightened about how violence wasn’t always the answer, Dan was shot down by the Police - who hunted him down on charges of murder and fleeing from justice as a fugitive. However, during the death screen, the Light Master taught the Player a secret ability to solve his issue (via button sequence) with the Drunk Man which didn’t rely on violence. After the stage restarted, the Player had Dan enter the secret button combination. This leveled him up, and taught him a new ability (“Make Peace”) which made peace with the Drunk Man - who in his drunken stupor believed it was the ghost of his abusive father, having come back to make peace with him. It ended with the Drunk Man hugging Dan, much to his embarrassment. Stage Four In Stage Four, Josie invited Dan into her room for privacy. Meanwhile, the Geezers on the second floor cheered them on, but their perverted suggestions with pelvic thrusting disgusted Josie. Afterward, once inside her room, she invited Dan to sit beside her. However, due to the Player not knowing how, he ended up making Dan crouch instead. Josie tried to coax him to kiss her, but once again the Player didn’t know how, which caused Dan to act erratic using stereotypical game movements; he even jumped on top of Josie, much to her confusion. He then exited the room and left behind his girlfriend - bewildered by her boyfriend’s actions. Dan asked the Geezers - who were surprised to see him again - how to make love. They teach him their signature pelvic thrusting, and encouraged Dan '''to try it. Unfortunately, it doesn’t end well; Josie kicked him out the room for his perverted behavior. Angered, he yelled at the Geezers, who then taught '''Dan another method they knew. When Josie exited her room to investigate the noises outside, she found him and the Geezers practicing a portrayal of intercourse. Shocked at the sight, she returned to her room. The Bald Geezer went downstairs to get a beer so he could clear his head, and the Hat Geezer followed. However, he also gave Dan better advice: that he should ask Josie for romantic advice instead. As Dan entered the room, he admitted to Josie he didn’t know how to make love. Excited, Josie taught him the method represented by button sequences; each successful input initiated a romantic gesture. Finally, at the end, they embraced each other and kissed. Later on, a humorous retro-graphics animation played out which showed Dan '''impregnated Josie through intercourse that night. Stage Five In Stage Five, Josie and '''Dan are seen on a haystack wagon; he directed the donkey pulling the cart while Josie relaxed on top of the haystack. However, the peace is interrupted by the Dragon, who unleashes havoc on the King’s Castle and attacks several of the King’s Guards. Dan ran to the top of one of the castle towers, and equipped a set of knight armor along with a lance and shield. He then threw his lance at the Dragon, but it did little damage and Dan lost the lance as a result. Angered, the Dragon breathed fire at Dan, who blocked the inferno with his shield. However, the Dragon later managed to hit Dan in his back; it destroyed his shield, armor (sans helmet), and most of his clothes to point of only wearing a helmet and underwear. Cornered, Dan tried to jump over a wall, but failed as the Dragon closed in for the kill. However, Dan is saved when several of the King’s Guards opened fire on the Dragon with automatic rifles; it fled as a result. The guards cheered on Dan for his bravery, and took him to see the King. Dan and Josie were invited to a party by the King as his way of saying thanks for dealing with the Dragon. Unfortunately, Dan drank too much alcohol, and started dancing while still wearing only his underwear and knight helmet. Unaware of Josie and the Resistance’s attempt to free the Baby Dragon in the sewers, he continued to party as the crowd got more excited by his antics. When Josie arrived to try and get his help, she saw him - due to the Player’s influence and usage of QTEs (Quick Time Events) - flash himself in front of numerous people. Shocked, she went away and left Dan to his partying. Later that night, Dan was snatched up by the Baby Dragon due to Josie’s request, which helped the duo escape along with the freed Baby Dragon. The King, having seen a kindred spirit leave the party, was saddened by the sight. The next morning, Dan; Josie; and the Baby Dragon were out in the wilderness. Josie managed to reunite the Baby Dragon with its parent, the Dragon that Dan had fought the day before. Unfortunately for him, his wild partying - and having drank too much alcohol - caused him to vomit; pass out; and soil his pants, much to Josie’s disbelief. Stage Six In Stage Six, Dan and Josie were seen in a forest outside of the Villager’s Town; they had fun while they explored the environment. However, Dan met another woman in the area, and the Player discovered it was, in fact, another player within the series. Having arrived from the MMO - a place which players could enter once they beat the game - the new player introduced herself as Ana. At first, the Player and Ana communicated about random topics with each other, using their characters as proxies to interact, whereas Josie watched out of curiosity. The Player learned that Ana’s character was unique: unlike Dan, who was a pre-established character with the game’s world, Ana had a customized avatar whose appearance could be altered at will. Furthermore, the avatar had no will of its own; it therefore was a direct extension of Ana’s being, whereas the Player had limited control over Dan. Intrigued, the Player began to ask questions about the MMO, but Ana saw Josie, and believed the Player was already busy. Unfortunately, the Player dismissed Josie as being nothing more than an NPC - that she wasn’t real - and therefore ordered Dan to hang out with Ana instead. As Dan walked away with Ana, Josie became shocked at Dan’s dismissal of her, and ran away back to her Inn, having believed she had been dumped. Meanwhile, the Player and Ana continued to hang out with each other, using their characters as proxies to continue their interactions. Ana showed off her custom house within the MMO to the Player, played a game of chess with him, hung out with him in her hot tub, and talked about random topics for fun. Eventually, the two players’s respective avatars kissed, but the Player had to leave afterwards. The dialogue which took place next differs by the version of the video watched: -''Studio Joho Variant of Stage Six Ending'' The Player asked Ana how to beat the game since she already beat it before, but the answer made the Player realize he screwed up badly: In order to win, Dan had to marry Josie. However, since the Player made Dan abandon her earlier, the Player realized Dan’s actions could be interpreted as him breaking up with her, thus making the situation complex. Ana admitted she thought the game was nuts, and wished the Player good luck, all the while hoping she could meet him again once he beat the game. -''Halfbrick Variant of Stage Six Ending'' The Player asked Ana if she really was female; she laughed in response, and declared that she was a woman in real life. Then the Player left her, and ordered Dan to return back to the game once more so he could beat it. Ana smiled (using an emoticon), having enjoyed her time with the Player. Note: It’s unknown which ending is considered the true canon ending. The Halfbrick Variant was made after the Studio Joho Variant, making it appear as if the two companies had the ending secretly changed. By theory, this would make the ending more ambiguous as to how the Player wins the game, but it’s also apparent that Dan and Josie’s relationship plays a key part. As a result, both endings can be treated as canon. Stage Seven In Stage Seven, the Player tried to have Dan make up with Josie, having realized abandoning her created friction between Dan and herself. He noticed Josie was in the process of fixing the Inn’s damaged chimney, and picked up a piece of rubble to help her clear the area. However, she threw the rock out of the wheel barrel, and called him a pig. She then fled away from the Villager’s Town, and hoped he wouldn’t follow, but he pursued her - much to her disgust. Dan tried to convince Josie he loved her, but she spurned his affections by altering one of the icons in his communication bubble to state he loved himself more. Then she hopped on several platforms until she reached an isolated island in the sky (similar to the one in Stage Two), and screamed at him in frustration. Unfortunately, when he attempted to reach her once more, he plummeted off a cliff by accident; this caused him to die, and having lost his last life, the “Continue?” message appeared on screen. Josie - horrified upon seeing Dan fall to his “death” - panicked in a heartbeat. She confessed her feelings that she still loved him, despite everything that happened, and turned hysterical when she noticed the “Continue?” message on the screen. Upon realization he had passed away, Josie fainted under distress. Later, the Player utilized a “Continue” to revive Dan, complete with a fresh set of lives, and terrified the Villagers who had attended his funeral. However, they realized their hero had somehow come back from the grave, and with the King’s Guards hunting the Villagers down for their rioting earlier, they sought Dan’s help for resolving the crisis with peace. To their misfortune, they also learned the Ninja Rebels of the Resistance had arrived as well, hoping to recruit Dan in order to assist them with storming the King’s Castle. Dan was left mulling his options between the two sides, and the stage ended on a cliffhanger. Stage Eight In Stage Eight, Dan chose to side with the Ninja Rebels of the Resistance in order to save several of the trapped Villagers and Josie. As Dan and the Ninja Rebels advanced towards the King’s Castle, they encountered several members of the King’s Guards, but in the end run the guards were no match for the alliance. During the fight, the Geezers learned of the circumstances surrounding the captives in the castle; they decided to aid the group. Upon arrival, they noticed Dan was in trouble, and beat down the dogs whom attacked him. After the Geezers declared they would help Dan, the three of them entered the King’s Castle. While Dan and the Geezers rushed through the King’s Castle, the Geezers noticed several Ninja Rebels of the Resistance were looting in between the fighting; the Geezers started to have doubts about the Resistance’s true purpose. When they witnessed one of the Ninja Rebels interrogate one of the captured King’s Guards, they became curious why the Resistance was more interested in finding the King’s location rather than help the enslaved Villagers and Josie. Later, the Geezers managed to destroy a brick wall in the sewers which led to the enslaved Villagers, and celebrated with their signature pelvic thrusting for locating the Villagers themselves. However, they were unaware the Villagers had already been freed by Josie, and were near the bombs before the fatal explosion. To add to the misfortune, Dan’s appearance terrified Josie; she thought Dan had died, and now returned as a zombie. Unable to cope with her new reality, she ran off before Dan and the''' Geezers could explain the situation. As '''Dan ran through the sewers with the Geezers, hoping to calm Josie down, the Dark Master ambushed Dan out of nowhere; this separated him from Josie and the Geezers. Before the Dark Master could land a strike on Dan, the Light Master intervened. Enraged at the sight of his good counterpart, the Dark Master - despite being paid by the Chief Executive to hunt down Dan - charged at the Light Master in order to murder him instead. While the two fought, Dan escaped, and continued his search for Josie. Eventually, Dan caught up with the Geezers, and noticed several of the Ninja Rebels of the Resistance had found the King. When he saw Dan, the King reacted positively to Dan, and believed he would save him. Unfortunately, the Ninja Rebels gunned the King down in cold blood, and Dan picked up a sack of gold dropped by the King upon his death. The Geezers, however, were troubled by this. While they protested the King and his forces, they wanted to avoid unnecessary bloodshed when possible. Then Dan heard a noise, and noticed Josie was in the room. Having finally reached Josie, the Geezers noticed she was trying to save one of the King’s Guards - who earlier defected to help the Villagers and herself escape. The Geezers were shocked at the Resistance’s plans to execute the guard despite his heroism. Fed up with the violence, the Hat Geezer called out the newly “crowned” King Resistance on his violent methods. Unfortunately, he had no interest in being criticized, for he executed both the heroic defector of the King’s Guards and the Hat Geezer in cold blood with his personal handgun. Horrified, the Bald Geezer cried over his friend’s corpse. Determined to get revenge, he picked up a rifle, and ran off to find King Resistance. Then Dan showed up, which scared Josie off once more. Near the end, Dan managed to track down Josie to the King’s personal bar on the balcony, and fought off several King’s Guards as he made his way towards his girlfriend. But when he arrived, he realized Josie was being held captive by the Chief Executive - who planned to escape using a helicopter. Dan acquired a shuriken, but struggled to get a clean shot at the cowardly Chief Executive. At the last moment, Josie - having overcome her fear of death - got the upper hand on the Chief Executive, and held him out for a clean shot for her boyfriend. Unfortunately, Dan; Josie; and the Chief Executive were all gunned down by King Resistance. After his near death at the hands of the Bald Geezer, he activated the bombs located in the sewers; this destroyed the entire King’s Castle, and murdered everyone within the vicinity. The level reseted with Dan once again making the choice to aid the Ninja Rebels of the Resistance, despite their betrayal earlier. It’s left unknown if Dan ultimately succeeded, for it was the Bald Geezer’s decision to not aid the Resistance which completed the stage. However, all the major characters were revived, which granted Dan another chance in the future to save Josie as well as the enslaved Villagers. In the Game The events within the official game are roughly the same as they were within the web series, but there were a few differences. Many of the scenes play out a bit differently, such as the fight between the Light Master and the Dark Master, and the King doesn’t react at all to Dan’s appearance in game. One major difference takes place if Josie is the Player chosen character to be used in game. In this case, Dan is the one who was captured alongside the Villagers; saves them; and becomes enraged when the Geezers accidentally killed the Villagers with the bombs used to break down the brick wall. This means he effectively swapped places as the kind, empathetic, and no-nonsense NPC role that Josie had in the web series; this hints it takes place in an alternate world separate from the web series. Also, “NPC Dan” threatens the Chief Executive with a handgun, who in turn held the Bald Geezer as a hostage, but in the end run all three of them were gunned down by the traitorous King Resistance. This forced a player-controlled Josie to avenge her boyfriend’s death, who was ultimately revived when the stage was reset back to its beginning upon King’s Resistance’s successful kamikaze bombs murdering everyone in the King’s Castle. After the reset, upon beating up as well as scaring off several Ninja Rebels of the Resistance, the player-controlled Josie was left trying to figure out another method to save NPC Dan and the enslaved Villagers within the castle. Other Media Dan is one of the selectable characters in another game from Halfbrick called Booster Raiders. In this game, an all-star cast from various Halfbrick games compete in a sprinting race with each other, using various abilities; avoiding traps on the track; and taking advantage of speed zones to outpace each other. In Dan’s case, he has four different abilities, many of which didn’t appear in the official game of the Dan the Man series, but some were based on elements within the game: * Shuriken Blast: Dan chucks several shurikens in front of him. They fan out in multiple directions, thus are capable of hitting multiple opponents on different elevations with careful aim. * Floating Mine: Dan activates a floating mine behind him, which detonates when an opponents touch it. * Fire Move: Dan protects himself with an energy shield known as “Dragon’s Soul.” * The Resistance: A global attack; Dan calls for aid from friendly Ninja Rebels of the Resistance, who arrive on jetpacks and assault opponents with their AK Rifles. Dan’s stats mark him as a true blue case of a “fragile speedster.” Or in other words, he has low Defense yet boasts amazing Speed, giving him more opportunities to use maximum speed bursts within matches. Rounding it up with an average Attack rating makes him a decent brawler, especially in close range combat, but he doesn’t recover well when he’s hit by an opponent’s attack - or falls prey to a trap on the course. Two of Dan’s abilities are potent defensive options, and can double as snowballing mechanics when he holds the lead in a match. Planting a Floating Mine can hold opponents at bay while using Fire Move can protect him from global attacks as well as long range opponent’s attacks, and when combined with his maxed Speed he’s marked as a dangerous character when ahead of other players. Furthermore, once he upgrades his Fire Move ability enough times (when he reaches level twenty), his shield can harm other opponents - this effectively allows the shield to turn him into a human battery ram, and when combined with a maximum speed boost he can quickly take the lead back from other players. However, Dan’s ability to strike opponents from a distance - while capable of harming multiple opponents - is difficult to utilize since it fires several slow moving shurikens. Without careful aim, the shurikens can be dodged, making it a tricky ability to use. And while he can sometimes count on the Ninja Rebels of the Resistance to provide aid, it’s a rarely given ability during matches. Not to mention it normally appears when he’s behind other players, meaning it’s more of a comeback mechanic which you shouldn’t have to rely on. In summary, Dan can use many speed boosts at a quicker rate thanks to his maxed Speed, yet has poor Defense, but can make up for those defensive issues with mines and shields. And at higher levels, his shield doubles as a weapon that allows him to ram people with ease - especially when he has a maximum speed boost available (which doesn’t take long for him). With enough caution using his shield, and knowledge of the level’s course, he can take the lead quickly if given the opportunity. Trivia *'Dan' is a reference to “Daniel Larusso“ from The Karate Kid series. **Both share nearly identical first names. **Both are martial artists who get into trouble repeatedly. **Both had several love interests, but also had trouble maintaining them. **Both use a form of the “crane style kick“ made famous in The Karate Kid. In Dan’s case, it’s while he is charging up for a power attack. *The only time Dan has ever changed his appearance was in Stage Five; his armor and clothing was destroyed after getting hit by the Dragon, which is also a reference to the Ghosts ’n Goblins series. *In the Halfbrick game Booster Raiders, Dan appears on the app icon alongside Barry Steakfries. One of the loading screens in the game depicts Dan in direct conflict with Barry, which hints their rivalry with each other within Halfbrick’s games. *In Stage Six, one of the topics Dan discussed with Ana was repeated looping of information on kelpies, an Australian dog breed. This is a reference to Halfbrick’s Australian background, and is also where their company headquarters is located. Category:Characters Category:Dan the Man game Category:Dan the Man web series